AN: Alright, not a lot of people like Twilight but I LOVED the books (movies = shit), so if you don't like it, just leave it be. If you DO like it, though, please let me know. Enjoy, guys!
I lay in the back of Renee's car, one arm over my eyes, and waited for the stop of the car to tell us when we arrived at the airport. It was seventy-five degrees here in always sunny Phoenix, so the windows were rolled down - and I hated it. Sure, I adored the fact that the windows gave me a slight breeze, but when the breeze stopped, it only made me hate this place more. Its constant, beating sun and intense mugginess were just not for me. Ever since Bella had told me her idea for the move, all for Renee's benefit, of course, I've been all for it. Don't get me wrong, I love Renee like a mother, but she was too flighty, too light-headed about things. I knew Bella hated Forks, but from how she described it, it was a magical place, where when the sun shined it was warm, but not hot; where it rained and snowed so much, showing up to school soaked would be easy. I love the rain - whether it was drizzling, foggy, or pouring, I would find a way to be in the middle of it all. Bella loved sunny Phoenix, but she was very selfless, like me. She said, and I quote, "My only salvation from this place will be you."
Bella was my best friend - I even considered her a sister. Her and her mother had taken me in last year, when I was sixteen, after the 5th foster family I'd been with had died - mysteriously, as usual. I'd gotten over getting attached to people, but when Bella and her mother hadn't died after a month, I opened myself up. And here they were, well and alive a year later, driving us to "our doom" as Bella would say. The car slowed and stopped. I was extremely excited, so I sat up quickly and hopped out of the car, grabbing my one bag of luggage from the trunk and heaving it towards the airport.
"Bella, Kaylin..." Renee started worriedly as we gave our luggage to the workers. "You don't have to do this." She glanced at me before her eyes landed on Bella's face. Bella took in her mother with worry, and although I knew Renee could take care of herself, Bella never believed me. I reached out a tan hand and placed it on Bella's shoulder. It seemed to give her her voice back.
"I want to go, and so does Kaylin." Only the first part was a lie, and quite a bad one too. I just had to teach Bella how to lie someday.
"Tell Charlie I said hi," Renee gave up her argument and I saw her excitement.
"We will!" I chirped happily. Why was I chirping?! Kaylin Sanders does NOT chirp.
"I'll see you two soon," she continued. "You can come home whenever you want - I'll come right back as soon as you need me." I tried not to roll my eyes, but seriously? Bella would never give up her side of the argument, and Renee, no matter how much she tried to deny it, wouldn't like for Bella to come back too soon.
"Don't worry about us," Bella replied. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom." Bella and Renee embraced, and then I kissed Renee on the cheek.
"Bye!" I yelled, dragging a blushing Bella onto the plane. My yell had drawn attention to us and she didn't like that. I made sure I had my flannel shirt tied around my waist, and dragged us to our seats. Bella rolled her eyes at my enthusiasm as she sat down. I had an aisle seat, thank god, and stretched my long legs out. Before I knew it, I was passed out, waiting for our arrival in Seattle.
I watched my sleeping friend next to me, her head on my shoulder, and chuckled. She wouldn't be happy when her chin-length brown hair had the bed-head look. She had brushed every caramel highlight into perfection this morning in anticipation for Forks. I didn't understand, especially since she usually doesn't care about girly stuff.
For the past year, Kaylin and I have been inseparable. Neither of us fit in anywhere, only with each other. Everyone thought Kaylin was too tough, but that was mainly just on the outside. She was headstrong, loyal, and extremely courageous. She was everything I aspired to be. I had watched her stand up to countless bullies for people she didn't like, even getting into fights (that she always won). Her wide green eyes were intelligent and sharp, showing the danger you were in if you fought with her. She was pined after by every boy, and even some girls, in the school. She was worshipped there, even by teachers...and chose to be my best friend. I liked my luck, even if it was rare.
I was woken by Bella as we landed in Seattle. We got off and waited for our next plane, which would arrive in fifteen minutes. I was bouncing in my seat, super excited. But even I wasn't oblivious to the stares we were getting. A brunette, shy and hiding behind her hair, and a girl who looked like her sister, bouncing up and down, glaring at anyone who got too close. I heard the flight attendant and jumped to my feet, dragging Bella with me. Our seats were different this time; I had the window while she got the isle. Oh well, I can't have everything. As we took off, I wondered what life in Forks would be like. If people there were evil then I wouldn't enjoy myself AT ALL. Sure, I'm good at fighting, but that doesn't mean I like to.
Moments later, our plane was touching down and I was shaking Bella awake. It was raining! My day could not get better at this point, it really couldn't. I dragged Bella off the plane where she led me to her father, Charlie Swan, who was waiting near a police cruiser. She suddenly tripped, and before I could catch her, Charlie did.
"It's good to see you Bells," he smiled, steadying her. "You haven't changed much. How's Renee?"
"Mom's fine. It's good to see you too, Dad." Bella responded, tossing her luggage in the trunk. I placed my measly bag in the seat next to me in the back of the car, feeling like a criminal. I only had three pairs of shirts, one a white tank top with a huge faded black skull, another white tank top with a big faded black cross, and the one I was currently wearing, a white tank top with a large faded black fleur-de-lis. I had three pairs of the same plaided dark gray and lilac flannel shirt around my waist, three different pairs of black leather pants, and two pairs of black combat boots that reach the middle of my calf. Speaking of my flannel shirt, I put it on, slightly cold, and left the top three buttons open. Bella and Charlie were having a conversation, so I occupied myself with looking out the windows in glee. It was beautiful; there was green no matter where I looked, a stark and colorful contrast to Phoenix. I was still staring out the window when I heard Charlie say my name, so I quickly brought myself from dreamland.
"So, Kaylin, how are you liking Forks so far?" He glanced at me in the rearview mirror before staring at the rain slicked road.
"Oh my god, I love it here! There's so much green, and rain, and nature, it's amazing!" I gushed happily, a bright smile on my face.
"Really? You're...different then what I expected, but don't take that the wrong way," He said worried. I laughed.
"Psh, I get that a lot. People expect me to be a carbon copy of Bella, and although I am in some ways, we're totally different." He nodded, and I could tell that the conversation was over. Damn, he really isn't a talker. I refocused on the scenery outside as we pulled up to Charlie's house, or I guess, my new home. It was beautiful; it looked small and simple, and it probably only had two bedrooms, but I already loved it. It had a cottage look to it, some vines and ferns placed strategically around and on the house. It was right in front of a large wooded area, and I already couldn't wait to explore it. There was a beautiful '53 Chevrolet Pickup Truck (what, I know my cars) sitting in the driveway, faded and rusty, but a beauty all the same.
"Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Bella exclaimed. She was practically bursting with happiness, and I could tell that she saw herself in this truck. Charlie mumbled something, but I was too far gone to notice. I was practically petting the truck, my bag beside me, a lone toothbrush popped out.
"So, Charlie, is this a '53 Chevy?" I turned my head back towards them, but they were gone. I pouted. Meanies, leaving me out here, defenseless... Turning with my bag in hand, I heard a rustling in the bushes. I glared in horror at the offending branches until a bunny hopped out. Phew. I placed a hand on my heart and went inside. I had no clue where I would be sleeping. I saw Charlie in the living room, watching some sport game or other, pah.
"Sooo...Do you know where I'm sleeping?" He jerked forward, spinning around quickly, but relaxed when he saw me.
"Um, yeah, you have the office space. I converted it into a bedroom, so there's not much in there, and it's pretty small..." He was rubbing the back of his head. I lunged forward, hugged him tightly, exclaimed "Thanks Charlie!", and was off. I skipped up the stairs, looking for Bella. I saw her moping in her room, all her clothes neatly folded, as she stalked towards the bathroom. She was deep in thought, and suddenly she saw my reflection and wiped her tears away. My heart ached to see my sister in pain. I locked the door behind me and sat on the closed toilet seat. I opened my arms towards her, and she accepted, sobbing and crying, the whole deal. The only things I did was pat her back soothingly and whisper in her ear. I let her go to her room after a few minutes and set my bag on the sink. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Wide green eyes, framed in long black lashes stared innocently at me. My chin length chocolate brown hair was ruffled and messy, the caramel highlights sticking up at weird angles. My tanned and freckled arms were crossed, and my muscles flexed involuntarily. I had tearstains on my tank top. I rolled my eyes as I brushed my teeth. I felt and looked the same as ever. Would I be able to survive in a place like Forks?
I woke early the next morning, feeling refreshed. I lay in bed, listening to nature and the house before I glanced at the clock. Ahh, five in the morning. I grabbed my cross tank top, a flannel, and a pair of my leather pants. In the shower were three options for shampoo: strawberry, which was most likely Bella's, I didn't look too closely at Charlie's, and mine, which was a special rose extract. Washing it out of my hair, I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around myself before stepping out. I glanced in the mirror to make sure I had gotten all the soap out, and my locket caught my attention. It was silver and oval-shaped, given to me by Bella for my birthday this year. It had a picture of the two of us in it, but one side remained empty. I was waiting for the "one". As if that would ever happen. I brushed my teeth and got dressed quickly.
I was drying my hair with a towel as I came down the stairs and saw Bella and Charlie eating breakfast awkwardly. I took my place at the table and ate the cereal placed in front of me by Bella. I munched quietly as we sat in silence. Finally, Charlie wished us good luck and took his leave. Bella glanced around the kitchen before she finally stood up and threw on her raincoat. I could tell she was miserable, so I settled for being silent. Bella quickly got into the car and I followed, my hair still dripping from the shower. The radio made a comfortable silence as we pulled into the school. Bella parked in the front office. I could tell she was nervous, so I grabbed her hand.
"You'll be fine, Bella. I could go with you if you want..." She shook her head vehemently.
"No, no, no, I'll be fine. You stay here and I'll be back with our schedules, and hopefully a map." She smiled faintly, and I returned it before she was gone. I sat back in the warm seat, waiting for her to come back. I think I must've dozed for a bit, because Bella woke me up.
"It's time to go in. We have all our classes together, so at least we won't be separated." Bella smiled. "If they knew how much trouble we were together, I doubt that would be the case." We laughed, but all too soon Bella looked worried again.
"Bella, look at me," I commanded. She did, and looked very worried. "If a single person bothers you, you come straight to me. No one bothers my family." I saw a tear slip and hugged her tightly. "Now, we have a class to attend!" I declared, jumping out of the truck with my bag over my shoulder. Bella followed me, and I heard her hyperventilating as we approached building "3", so I grabbed her hand. I wasn't wearing a jacket, so I wondered how I must look to everyone else. Bella was hiding behind her hood, so I dragged her inside for our first class. I handed my slip to Mr. Mason, who sent me to the back with a reading list that had all my favorite classics. I tried not to sleep as the teacher talked; it was hard, he was extremely boring. Bella was zoned out next to me, probably as bored as I was. As soon as the bell rang, I was out of my seat, dragging Bella up too. A tall boy with gangly limbs and skin problems was leaning on Bella's desk.
"You're Isabella and Kaylin Swan, right?" I smiled, shaking my head.
"Bella, and its Kaylin Sanders, not Swan," Bella corrected. Everyone still in the class turned to look at us, and I glared at them.
"Oh. What's your next class?" I didn't like him. He was too ambitious. Like, you're never gonna score with either one of us. Shoo. But I couldn't say that. So I told him without looking at the schedule.
"Government, with Jefferson, whoever he is," I rolled my eyes and he laughed, a little too eagerly. I wanted to march away with Bella, but found an excuse just to get away. "Oh, shit, my notebook is in the car! Bella, gimme the keys!" She did so, looking confused. I winked, and before she could call me back, I was gone. I leaned against the car for a moment before I went back, towards boring old school and new experiences.
I kind of zoned out until lunchtime. All of the sudden, Bella was dragging me towards the lunchroom, trying to keep up with some girl named Jessica. I could tell Bella couldn't remember her name, so I stumbled forward.
"Jessica," I whispered, walking next to Bella and bending down slightly. She nodded in thanks and focused on nonsensical answers like "oh," and "mhm," to Jessica's rambling conversation. She forced us to sit at a table of all her friends. Bella was trying to be nice by making conversation, but I was bored and letting it show. I glanced around the lunchroom before I felt Bella's elbow in my gut. I looked towards where she was pointing and felt my heart stop, and start again way too quickly.
There was a table in the far corner of the cafeteria, where five people were sitting. They weren't eating, or talking, or staring at us. Without being told, I knew they were all related somehow. One was tall and muscular, like really muscular, with short curly dark brown hair. The girl next to him was a statuesque blonde who looked like a model. Sitting next to her was another boy who looked like her twin. He was also blonde, lean, but also muscular. On his right was a small pixie-like girl with short black hair that was really untidy. The last one was a lanky bronze-haired boy that appeared to be the youngest. All of them had dark golden eyes, and they were paler than even Bella. They looked like insomniacs, with dark shadows under their eyes, the ones I used to have before Bella and Renee. They were so beautiful, even the guys, and suddenly, as I stared in fascination, the pixie rose and practically ran from her seat. From what, I wonder? The bronze-haired one looked up in horror as if he wanted to run too. But why? What were they so afraid of? I heard Bella discussing them with Jessica and decided to tune in.
"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who just left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." Jessica said all of this very quickly and under her breath. I gave the table another sidelong glance. The bronze-haired boy was speaking quickly and urgently about something. What the hell!?
"They are... very nice-looking." Bella stuttered out.
"Yes!" Jessica agreed with a giggle. "They're all together though - Emmett and
Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they live together. But there's a rumor going around that Edward's dating -"
"EDWARD ANTHONY MASEN CULLEN!" The cafeteria doors swung open to reveal another Cullen. My heart skipped five beats. I'd done it. I'd found the "one". She was right there, looking extremely pissed. She had pixie cut red hair, and looked statuesque, like Rosalie. She was very tall and had the same dark gold eyes as the rest of them, even the dark bags. She was beautiful; more so then Rosalie, or even Alice. Her pale arms were crossed and she held something in her hands. She had a fingerless fishnet glove on her left hand that went to her wrist and was a deep blue color. She was wearing a dark purple halter top and dark blue skinny jeans, with violet-colored flats. She was beyond mad. Why? Because in her hands, she held...a charm of a black bear?
"DID YOU THINK THIS WAS FUNNY!? I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES BECAUSE OF THIS SHIT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" She had stomped over to his table, fuming. It was then, in the silence waiting for Edward's answer, that Jessica finished her sentence feebly.
"Anastasia Cullen..." Hearing her name in the silence of the cafeteria, the girl spun around. Her eyes landed on our table, and her gaze flickered from Jessica, to Bella, and finally landed on me. It may have been my imagination, but I thought that the anger disappeared for a second, before it was back, as was her gaze on Edward.
"And for all of you who are curious...WE ARE NOT DATING!" With that, Anastasia dragged Edward out of the room, and even I could see he looked pretty scared.
"Umm...So, which one's are the Cullen's? They don't look related..." Bella tried to continue her conversation with Jessica as I sat dumbfounded. What the god damn hell just happened!?
I was like that all of lunch, and even when Bella dragged me to Biology II. When we entered the classroom, I was dragged back to reality by the back of someone's head - someone I could never forget. Someone who was currently chatting happily with Edward, as if the whole lunchroom fiasco had never happened. Suddenly I could walk on my own again as I strode confidently to the teachers desk, Bella behind me. She seemed embarrassed about something. There was one empty desk with two seats so I headed towards it once I had given the teacher my slip to sign. Mr. Banner called me back.
"Anastasia, please move to the seat in the free desk. Isabella, you sit next to Edward. Kaylin, you can sit next to Anastasia." I felt very lucky. I could tell I was going to get my heart broken by this girl. She smiled at me as I sat down, before refocusing on the teacher. I felt my heart melt. Through my haze of happiness, I noticed something. Her eyes seemed to be a different color, almost appearing to be coal black under the light. I continued to gaze at her the entire time, and she didn't seem to be offended. When she caught my stare, she smiled bemusedly with one eyebrow raised. In her eyes shone amusement and dare I say it, happiness? But at what? She was difficult to figure out, cool. Gimme a challenge to work with. Suddenly the bell was ringing and she was grabbing Edward by the shoulder and dragging him out the door. I drifted towards gym behind Bella and some guy named Mike. These boys were getting too friendly with my sister. I grabbed her shoulder and steered her towards the locker room.
The coach - I'd already forgotten his name - sat us down on the side and gave us uniforms, but didn't tell us to put them on. I watched the game of volleyball with excitement stirring in my gut. It was the only sport I could stand, and just so happened to be Bella's mortal enemy. She looked green as she stared at the game, and I put a comforting arm around her shoulder. And then gym was over, and we were heading back to the office to give in our slips. It was cold out, not that I felt it, as Bella hurried towards the warm building, me in tow. As the door whooshed open, Bella seemed to shrink into me, and as I looked up, I saw why.
Edward Cullen stood at the front desk, having an argument with the receptionist. I couldn't hear anything, only the pounding of blood in my ears. This was someone who inspired fear in my little sister. This was someone who annoyed the crap out of me, with his pompous attitude and smug smirk. And unfortunately...this was someone who meant a lot to the girl I had a crush on. Oh, joy. The door whooshed open behind us and suddenly, Edward's back stiffened as he turned to glare at the two of us. I glared right back, my arm around Bella's shoulder, until he turned back to the receptionist.
"Never mind, then. I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he was gone, striding confidently through the doors without sparing us another glance. I glared at his back when I heard the sighs of a group of girls who were in front of the office. Bella was handing in her slip, so I decided to follow, my anger boiling inside of me.
"How did your first day go, dearies?" The receptionist seemed nice enough.
"Fine," Bella replied weakly as I shrugged. We took our leave as we headed back to the truck. I wanted to say something to break the silence, but knew Bella needed some time. When we got in the car, Bella shrunk in on herself, hugging her knees to her chest. My anger dissipated as I watched my friend.
"Bella, you know -" She held her hand up and hid her face in her knees. When she turned on the car, I saw her eyes watering. I tried to say something more, but she shook her head. We rode back to Charlie's in silence.